CAMP DANIEL BOONE

Daniel Boone Council
Canton, North Carolina

KEEPING IT 1700: Step back in time at Boonesboro Village, a full-immersion summer camp experience. You’ll live all week as 1770s-era villagers, sleeping in barracks and learning blacksmithing, pottery and leatherworking.

FOOD AND FIRE: At Boonesboro, villagers cook over wood fires using only tools available in the late 18th century. No camp stoves here.

MODERN MARVELS: Daniel Boone offers plenty of 21st-century fun, too, including rafting, climbing and backpacking. There’s also Goin’ Great, a program that gets new Scouts on the path to Eagle.

OWASIPPE SCOUT RESERVATION

Pathway to Adventure Council
Twin Lake, Michigan

DO IT ALL: It’s called the Ultimate Owasippe Adventure, and it’s not for Scouts who want to sit still. Your Monday through Friday will be packed with hiking, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing and more.

WHEELS UP: Owasippe’s new mountain-biking program might be the coolest way to explore the reservation’s 4,800 acres. Hop aboard to ride 23 miles of some of Michigan’s best trails.

KNOW YOUR HISTORY: Owasippe is one of the nation’s oldest Scout camps. While today’s Scouts arrive by SUV, Scouts in 1912 traveled by steamship across Lake Michigan. The camp isn’t on the lake, so Scouts had to carry all their gear the last 7 miles.

MONTANA HIGH ADVENTURE BASE (MOHAB)

Montana Council
Dupuyer, Montana

YOUR CHOICE: Treks at MOHAB come in two flavors: hiking or packrafting. If you pick packrafting, you’ll paddle the lakes and rivers, and hike the hills and valleys. When you aren’t paddling, you’ll carry your lightweight inflatable solo raft on your back.

LEVEL UP: MOHAB offers two adventure levels. Level I is a one-week trek covering up to 8 miles a day. Level II is two weeks, with up to 12 miles a day of travel.

SCENIC ROUTE: You won’t find these views at home. Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, MOHAB offers panoramic vistas that make each step or paddle stroke worth the effort.

TEN MILE RIVER (TMR) SCOUT CAMPS

Greater New York Councils
Narrowsburg, New York

TOUGHEN UP: The Ten Mile River High Adventure Trek is one of the most intense 50-mile treks out there. Over the course of the weeklong backpacking trip, you’ll stop at Philmont-style outposts to try target paintball, mountain boarding, rappelling and more.

A FULL MENU: TMR’s three summer camps allow you to choose your meal style. Camp Keowa and Camp Ranachqua have a traditional dining hall. Camp Aquehonga lets you cook with your patrol.

PICK ONE: All three camps offer activities like archery, canoeing, sailing and a nature center. But each has something unique: One has a twisty waterslide, another offers water skiing and the third has a deep-woods setting that feels more like “roughing it.”

NAISH SCOUT RESERVATION

ON TARGET: Take aim at metal markers in Top Shot Chalk Ball, one of Naish’s newest offerings. The chalk pellets explode in a satisfying cloud of dust when you hit your target.

LET’S EAT: The “Critter Supper Club” isn’t what it sounds like. No, you won’t have to dine on lizards, rabbits and snakes, but you will get to watch some of Naish’s animal residents devour their dinner while you munch on yours. Bon appétit!

FILL YOUR SASH: Naish offers more than 40 different merit badges, including six Eagle-required badges. The Welding merit badge is taught by local ironworkers. Geology and Mining in Society include a tour of a local quarry.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH ADVENTURE BASE

Rocky Mountain Council
Villa Grove, Colorado

HIGHS AND LOWS: From the time you show up Sunday, you’re in for a mountaintop experience in the rugged Rocky Mountains. You can try whitewater rafting, mountain trekking, mountain biking, climbing and rappelling.

RIVER ROAR: The powerful Arkansas River relentlessly churns down Browns Canyon, and you’ll feel every splash, dip and rise. Translation: You’re gonna get wet. Try to take your eyes off the rapids from time to time to look out for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

PEAK CONDITION: The Fourteener Challenge is only for Scouts in tip-top shape. You’ll try to summit Mount Shavano and/or Mount Antero. Each has an elevation higher than 14,000 feet, and each involves a strenuous climb to the top.

I love Camp Orr High Adventure Base in Jasper, AR! It’s the only BSA camp that is surrounded on all 4 sides by NPS property, and it’s waterfront is on the Buffalo, America’s first national river. Plus, they have some of the best rock in the country for climbing and rappeling, and you can’t beat their hiking and canoeing adventures! westarkbsa.org

These were not the best camps but just “incredible” camps for 2018. At first I couldn’t imagine that the true “top camp”, Camp Steiner at 10400 ft elevation would not be there, but looking back through the other years, it was one of the first featured in 2015’s article of incredible camps:). In all, these are good lists of camps that you can get a quick review on if you are wanting to travel to somewhere new. Thanks for these articles and keep them coming each year. It is incredible the amount of varying activities that are available throughout all the BSA camps! Some real treasures!

I second the vote for Matagamon High Adventure in Maine. Served there as Base Director in ’78 when it was a national high adventure base and the Katahdin Council has done a great job of keeping it active after National moved their canoe high adventure to Northern Tier. Best parts are variable length stays to fit your time frame and budget, and plan your own trek with canoe, whitewater, hiking, mountain climbing, floatplane and other options. Best bargain in a HA camp in US.

This is an ongoing series of articles for camps each year. Our camp was featured last year. Go and click on the link above the article to see previous camps featured. There are hundreds of scout camps and all can’t be featured.

So sad that my very favorite Camp Hual Cu Cuish in the Cuyamaca mountains wasn’t eligible because it was destroyed in a major wildfire. Built by the CCC in the late 1930s it was a beautiful beautiful camp. Great memories!

It’s great to see the different camps and the activities they provide that are unique to their area. While I have a lot of pride in our local camp and it would be great to see it listed, I appreciate listening to the testimonials such as one that discussed keeping the Scouts active with a week of fun and learning that keeps them off their electronics and away from watching TV. Keep up the good work Scouters!

It saddens me to read so many comments that complain and criticize because someone’s favorite camp was not listed. Let’s try to be more positive and less whiny Scouts. Constructive comments will do much more to help bring attention to your concerns.

I have a lot of wonderful memories of Owasippe scout camp in Michigan. Our troop went there for years. I eventually worked up there for 3 summers including 1969 when we watched Neil Armstrong’s walk on a 19” tv.

Venturing Crew 9 of Amarillo, TX ( The Kwahadi Dancers) have had the honor of performing a five of the eight in recent years on our summer show tours…and we agree and salute them for making this prestigious list!

My older boys both LOVE DelMarVa Council’s Camp Rodney in North East, MD. So much so that they opted to forego camping with their troops at local Scout camps this summer in favor of returning to Camp Rodney as provisional campers. Camp Rodney’s water sports program is incredible and my unmatched picky eater swears they have the “best food ever!” Tomorrow is merit badge sign-up; can’t wait to see what adventures they’ll be undertaking this year!

I strongly agree – my son and his buddies won’t even think about a different camp from Tenderfoot through Eagle – absolutely the best – the staff makes the difference – the first time you gather at retreat and see that line of almost 100 Staff in their Red T-Shirts it is awesome times 10!

It appears that you only polled Scouts in the Northern United States, surely there are some Scout camps worthy of mention in the Southern portion of the US. I agree with Pedro, it would be nice to have maybe a top 5/6 listing of scout camps by state/region? Would be nice to compare attributes vs. distance in order to make effective plans.

The tall pine wilderness of north central Minnesota hide two great Scout camps: Many Point Scout Camp near the headwaters of the Mississippi River and Wilderness Scout Camp between Park Rapids, MN and Bemidji, MN. Fantastic program and the land of 10,000 lakes means great fun at either of them.

Yes, would like to know the criteria. Otherwise, this list is based on what? The author’s personal experience, what he has heard over the years, a survey that went out to who, or paid advertising? Without context this article begs for questions and lacks credibility, even if these are all incredible camps.